The Pirate Support Thread

[pwsincd]

firstly i never cast a vote in the poll as there wasnt a category that fits my train of thought.

I pirate , have done for a long long time , 15 yrs or so , have had scene involvement , all sorts of ftp access to pre dumps , i left that scene 7 yrs ago and simply torrent now to keep my kids in the games they demand that i cannot continually afford. Ill watch several films , i wouldnt ever buy a dvd , ill go to the cinema regularly , but most films i dont want to see again . music i buy , massive collection of vinyl and cds always been a passion . i buy games for the 3ds for the kids , prolly cuz i cant play roms lol. Id prefer not to have to pirate , but im no rocket scientist.

 

[JulietStMoon]

firstly i never cast a vote in the poll as there wasnt a category that fits my train of thought.

I pirate , have done for a long long time , 15 yrs or so , have had scene involvement , all sorts of ftp access to pre dumps , i left that scene 7 yrs ago and simply torrent now to keep my kids in the games they demand that i cannot continually afford. Ill watch several films , i wouldnt ever buy a dvd , ill go to the cinema regularly , but most films i dont want to see again . music i buy , massive collection of vinyl and cds always been a passion . i buy games for the 3ds for the kids , prolly cuz i cant play roms lol. Id prefer not to have to pirate , but im no rocket scientist.

Wouldn't that fit in the "I currently pirate and I see no problem with it" category...?

 

[RodrigoDavy]

I am still not su sure of what pirating is, as a child I had some bootleg snes games and like 200 bootleg ps1 games. I didn't know I was doing something illegal, but where I live is either pirating or spending a lot of money on games. I made a whole lot of effort to buy my 3ds and games for it and all of them were brought from the US or bought from the eshop so I could pay only half the price I pay here. Truth is, eletronic and technological stuff are expensive in Brazil. Companies keep complaining about brazilians pirating but they don't lower their price and the government charge them high taxes so there's not much to do. They don't even translate games to portuguese, MK7 and SM3DL have portuguese translations in europe but they didn't bother to do the same in america (even if it was just copy and paste). People might argue that it doesn't matter but I've seen children playing games in spanish as it is the language most similar to portuguese. Imagine how many people couldn't enjoy a Zelda game for being no good at english...
To be fair, I support and I am pro piracy and it's not only for the price question. I think there should be a solution for the way games are marketed.

 

[Parasite X]

I admite I do Pirate games but then I buy them so that the copies are now backup game copies and then there's no guilt afterwards but mostly for games I hope to own or games I use to own.

 

[McHaggis]

I voted the last option, because it fits me closer than any others. I genuinely buy the games I like; I probably have more original Wii and PS3 games than most consumers, and I think I pirate a lot less than your average pirate, probably downloading 1-2 games per month. I generally download USA region games before they're released to PAL regions. I don't always buy every single game I like, sometimes I forget or other games are released and I make a choice based on my budget.

Does that make me a dirty stinking pirate? Probably.

 

[suppow]

I am still not su sure of what pirating is, as a child I had some bootleg snes games and like 200 bootleg ps1 games. I didn't know I was doing something illegal, but where I live is either pirating or spending a lot of money on games. I made a whole lot of effort to buy my 3ds and games for it and all of them were brought from the US or bought from the eshop so I could pay only half the price I pay here. Truth is, eletronic and technological stuff are expensive in Brazil. Companies keep complaining about brazilians pirating but they don't lower their price and the government charge them high taxes so there's not much to do. They don't even translate games to portuguese, MK7 and SM3DL have portuguese translations in europe but they didn't bother to do the same in america (even if it was just copy and paste). People might argue that it doesn't matter but I've seen children playing games in spanish as it is the language most similar to portuguese. Imagine how many people couldn't enjoy a Zelda game for being no good at english...
To be fair, I support and I am pro piracy and it's not only for the price question. I think there should be a solution for the way games are marketed.

i think that applies to most if not all of south america as far as i know,
it's on the companies' fault i'd say, since they dont have official representation/distribution there,
unlike in the USA or Europe or Asia, so they cant complain about it if they're not paying attention to those customers,
if you're there you have two options:
a) buy expensive imports
b) pirate the games (and sometimes even have to pay to buy pirated copies)
so as long as they keep ignoring that market (which is huge),
and treating it like 'third world', they're gonna keep getting 'third world' customers pirating their games.

also when it comes to translations, i support running patched roms, (it's better if you own a copy)
but fuck them for not localizing games, like Mother 1+2 or 3, and so many others!

 

[Deleted_171835]

I pirate but not as often. Generally if I can afford a game, I'll buy it or wait a little bit until I can get it. For example, I pirated Deus Ex: HR a while back because I couldn't afford it and really wanted to check it out. I ended up buying a Steam copy months after I completed the game to support the devs.

 

[nukeboy95]

why say you pirate in a open form that any one cAn see

its like yelling out side your local FBI agent I PIRATE STUFF ON THE INTERNET

 

[celcodioc]

why say you pirate in a open form that any one cAn see

its like yelling out side your local FBI agent I PIRATE STUFF ON THE INTERNET

If all leechers were killed, the human population of the Earth would go down by a lot.

 

[nukeboy95]

If all leechers were killed, the human population of the Earth would go down by a lot.

leecher are seeder in disguise


for all leechers

Spoiler

 

[Qtis]

Personally I've got a huge collection (probably around 50-100?) PS3 games, legit. Most have been bought on sale for 10-15€ during multiple years. Some new, some used. A big collection of PS2 games too, legit. A few Wii/DS games, a huge collection of PC games, all legit. Mostly I buy games that are on sale, rarely pay more than 25€ for a PS3 game for instance.

I do have a biggish collection of Wii/PS2 games on HDDs next to the consoles. Most of the games can't be run on PAL consoles (import games), so keeping the discs available next to the console vs HDD is just a more practical issue.

Music downloads have been pretty much zero for the 3 years that I've been using Spotify, be it legit or pirated downloads. Most radio stations play the big hits on such a small playlist that the songs get boring quite quickly, and Spotify has a huge selection of songs from pretty much every genre imaginable.

Now that Netflix arrived to the Nordic countries, quite a few new series and movies are available (for free till the end of the year!). Only series that I still download are How I met your mother and The Big Bang theory. Because I can't buy them even though I'm willing to pay for them. Thanks goes to licensing/blocking content outside the US.

Not trying to be a complete A-hole, but saying that someone "has to have the latest games/movies/whatever" is interesting in quite a few different ways. Just imagine having that one game (say Zelda TP) and your neighbor has a newer one (the new Skyward Sword). Why shouldn't the person wait a while to be able to buy the game and then play it? Or possibly loan the game from the neighbor? Now change the words game into cars. You have an old Lada and your neighbor the newest and fastest Audi. What would the situation be now?

If it's not relevant and physical objects aren't comparable to IP/design/games/etc, go to China for example. You could probably buy a locally made exact copy of the new Audi. Do the people actually making the new tech in the Audi earn a small compensation for the R&D of the new car design? The patent system is f'd up in many ways, but no one, I mean no one, can say that the time and money invested in new innovative markets shouldn't be compensated in one way or another.

Not sure of people's income levels and work situations on the 'Temp, but I study full-time and work part-time. I earn around 1000-1500 € per month (including 3-4 months of full-time work during the summer) while studying around 40 hours per week and working around 10-20 hours per week. I probably pay more tax (income tax around 20-25% for my small income, VAT at 23% (pretty much all products around), production taxes, etc) than most of you. Also living here is very expensive (easily 400-500€ per month for a single room with an integrated kitchen + bathroom).

Rambling, rambling. Too hard to write down now, need sleep...

To sum it up IMHO: Piracy is ok if there is really no legit option available. If the only reason for piracy is not wanting to pay, piracy should be frowned upon. More (cheap!) legit alternatives are popping up for music and TV/movies (gaming is still somewhere far away compared to the other forms). If you want to enjoy the entertainment (indeed this is what it's all about, entertainment), why not at least try the services and see what it's about?

If the services aren't available in your region, try contacting different companies and tell them your interest. In the mean time, show interest in the shows/games/whatever. Maybe that will show companies your true interest. Illegal downloads are also a way to monitor market interest for certain products


ps. One of the best articles on piracy and it's possible gains via TorrentFreak: http://torrentfreak.com/best-selling-author-turns-piracy-into-profit-080512/

 

[RodrigoDavy]

ps. One of the best articles on piracy and it's possible gains via TorrentFreak: http://torrentfreak.com/best-selling-author-turns-piracy-into-profit-080512/

Hehehe, it's a interview with Paulo Coelho. One of Brazil's most loved and hated writer. ^^
I do agree with him that piracy can help on sales, many people got to know some franchises through pirating and even if they don't buy it they'll tell their other friends how much awesome that game is and it will increase it's popularity. It's no wonder free PC games like Cave Story and VVVVVV got so famous and even their paid WiiWare/eshop versions are selling well know.

 

[Devin]

Hello, my name is Devin and I'm a pirate.

I used to be clean man. Save up pennies in a little coin jar for months to get my games. And then it started by getting a little taste of the Wii piracy scene. I thought like anyone else would think "Alright man, one hit of a pirated game and I'm done". But it got up to 2 hits, and then 3 hits, and then 42 hits. It didn't stop at the Wii, the DS, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, PC, and other systems were to follow man. Now I'm on street begging for change, so I can pay for my bandwidth to pirate more games. The worst part is, when you get one hit. The next time you want a hit, you have to pirate more man. To get that same "feel" again.

One hit will ruin your life.

Spoiler

But in all seriousness. I am a pirate, a very dirty pirate. I'm already in too deep to change, and if I were to try to quit. I would look at my Xbox 360/Wii and not be using it to it's full potential. It may seem a little selfish, but I really wouldn't feel pride in paying for a game I could have gotten for free. While my money could be used for other things.

 

[the_randomizer]

What's more wrong, second-hand retailers charging exorbitant prices for used/damaged games (i.e legacy 8-bit NES or 16-bit Snes) that are no longer being produced by companies, or downloading said games off the internet?

 

[JulietStMoon]

What's more wrong, second-hand retailers charging exorbitant prices for used/damaged games (i.e legacy 8-bit NES or 16-bit Snes) that are no longer being produced by companies, or downloading said games off the internet?

Two wrongs don't make a right. Just saying.

 

[Hells Malice]

I mostly PC game, so I pirate quite often. Thanks to some rather extravagant summer plans, I really can't afford to buy that many games, since all the ones I ever want are new. Or, most.
I'll buy console games simply because I have to. When i researched modding my 360, my brain pretty much short circuited. PS3 scene is dead, and I never play my wii. Only playing 3DS and Vita games for handheld doesn't help either.
So basically I have to pirate on my main gaming outlet to be able to afford my summer and sub-gaming outlets. Well I don't have to. I could just...not play the game.
But haha, like that's an option.

I still buy some games when they're too cheap to refuse though, like steam sales.

 

[the_randomizer]

Two wrongs don't make a right. Just saying.

If I'm going to buy games, it will either be from a company like Nintendo, and not some douche on eBay charging 100 dollars for a used copy of Chrono Trigger. I know two wrongs don't make a right, but I personally have no ill/moral guilt from having legacy Snes ROMs that aren't on the Virtual Console.

 

[Hells Malice]

If I'm going to buy games, it will either be from a company like Nintendo, and not some douche on eBay charging 100 dollars for a used copy of Chrono Trigger. I know two wrongs don't make a right, but I personally have no ill/moral guilt from having legacy Snes ROMs that aren't on the Virtual Console.

ChronoTrigger is on DS.

 

[the_randomizer]

ChronoTrigger is on DS.

I was using it as an example, Earthbound is another good one.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

I think of piracy of a form of fighting against bloated prices. I think there are products that deserve being bought, and ones that aren't. It's hard to explain.
Example, if you download something and find it good, you should buy it to support it. Put some money on things you'd like to back up.